LAND OF THE GIANTS-Terror Go Round, The Weird World

Fitzhugh hopes to show Barry the giant circus in the afternoon but it has moved on. Barry feels deprived but doesn't show it. Hearing circus pipe-organ calliope music they head toward it--into a giant bear which has a leash on him but is loose! Carlos, a giant man, takes the bear away. Carlos's nephew, Pepe, who was supposed to be watching the bear, Willie, sends up a balloon. This balloon distracts Barry and Mr. Fitzhugh who are caught unaware when Pepe lets the air out from another balloon onto them, bowling them over. Chipper gets away but Pepe lowers a box onto Fitzhugh and Barry. Barry yells, "Mr. Fitzhugh!"Pepe scoops them up and carries them away.

ACT ONE

Chipper goes back to camp, alerting the others, who were experimenting with gun powder from the firecracker they managed to steal. Mark and Steve go to scout it out and view Pepe showing off Fitzhugh and Barry to his Uncle Carlos and aide Luigi near a giant truck and broken down carnival equipment. He plans to sell them to the general circus who deal with government officials--greasing their palms--it is illegal to keep little people. Carlos allows Pepe to eat and puts Fitz and Barry into a wire cage away from Willie the bear who almost got them out of the box when it was lower. At night, the others arrive. Pepe feeds the two bread and jam, telling Barry he will be their friend. Fitz scoffs at this. Barry identifies with Pepe, seeing how mean his uncle is--and tells Fitz he would do the same thing if in Pepe's place. Fitz touches Barry's head and tells him he doubts Barry would. The men climb up but knock over an already fallen organ pipe. The girls hit pots and pans with sticks to divert the giant gypsies. To delay the departure, the men hide three spark plugs from the truck which Luigi was working on. They regroup and Steve says, "Sooner or later, even giants have to go to sleep."Steve hears a noise and goes off to investigate. Carlos with Willie, finds all the others and puts them with Fitzhugh and Barry. Val tells Carlos, who wants to know where the spark plugs are, "Why don't you go and have an accident."Carlos only laughs. Luigi ties Mark to a stake. Carlos throws hoops at him. Steve asks Pepe for help--for him to call the police but Pepe runs off, afraid.

ACT TWO

When Mark is nicked in the head by one hoop thrown, Steve angrily tosses the hatchet at Carlos's face. "It means we have another little pest around."Carlos now levels a threat: show yourself or the last hoop will finish Mark. Mark yells for Steve not to come out. Steve is about to when a police siren sounds. The giant men put the others in the organ pipes and Luigi plays as Steve watches helplessly. The policeman (Sparks) arrives and looks around. Fitzhugh tries banging on the pipes or yelling but Luigi plays the organ music loudly. The policeman leaves. Steve tells Pepe to go get him back. Pepe, scared of his uncle, refuses---and drops a giant rag on top of Steve!

ACT THREE

Steve falls, "Pepe! Get this thing off of me!"Pepe does, "I wouldn't have hurt you."Steve gives Pepe the spark plugs and tells him to keep the other two giants busy. Pepe tells them he found one. He climbs up and gets Barry and Mark out of their loose pipe by tilting it. Before they can pull the others out through the slots, Luigi finds another spark plug. Dan suggests they pull Fitzhugh out first but the giant men find the other spark plug. Barry, Steve, and Mark climb down and hide in the giant boy's balloon box. Pepe puts them in the back of the truck where the cage will be that holds Dan, Val, Betty, and Fitzhugh. Whispering to them, he promises to help them get away. The truck, bear cage attached, starts off. Fitzhugh doesn't think Steve did the right thing by trusting Pepe. After a ride, the truck pulls off the highway, not far from a giant circus and amusement park from which music can be heard. Carlos leaves to go make the deal with the circus people and get the money first--he wants to back out if he can. He insists Pepe go with him! Val, listening with the others on the back of the truck, says, "And the next time you hear that pleasant voice, he'll be turning us over to the man at the circus!"

ACT FOUR

Luigi has Willie guarding the back of the truck. A yell from Fitzhugh causes Luigi to threaten them with Willie. The three who are free use a net, ropes, and a balloon with a box to make something only Steve knows what it is. Barry soon catches on, "A balloon!"Val asks, "A balloon?"Fitzhugh and Valerie are doubtful it will work--there are inherent problems in the plan. To inflate it, they use a helium tank but the lever on it, screeches "like a banshee"according to Steve. To cover for it, Dan, Val, and Fitzhugh scream and yell for the giant to get help for a sick Betty--all a scam by the foursome. Steve turns the noisy valve as the yell. Luigi is not compassionate--telling them she will get water at the circus. He tells them he will give one or two of them to Willie unless they are quiet. Everyone piles into the balloon except Steve who starts a fire (they're always starting fires!) in the cage using scraps of paper. Carlos returns and gets Luigi to tear the canvass off the truck back. The balloon rises; Steve hops in last; the canvass comes off. The balloon rises above the truck, smoke, and giants. Carlos runs to the front of the truck for his rifle, yelling for it. He fires at the balloon twice, hitting the sturdy box. Betty screams as the bullet hits the box.

TAG

Much to Pepe's happiness, the balloon escapes despite another shot by Carlos. Steve and Dan figure out how to control the balloon which drifts with the wind---of which there is a great deal of. Steve tells Fitzhugh to hold on and that, even though they are 20 miles away from their camp, they will walk back to find it. After a wind blown, wild ride, Steve orders Dan to let out some more of the air and they land in a clearing, using Mark's suggestion to crush the balloon so it wouldn't drag them. It appears that morning is coming on the horizon. Val leans against the box after getting out of it, "I never thought I'd be so happy to be back on giant ground."Mark tells Steve they could have used that valve on the truck to fix some of their spaceship. Steve laughs, "You want to go back and get it?"They all walk toward where their camp should be.

REVIEW: This episode is one of the first, the first air-order-wise and the first after DOUBLE CROSS, production order wise, to give giants more normal Earth sounding names. SABOTAGEwould return to using more alien sounding names. TERROR GO ROUND is a good episode, not liked by other fans, but one which has each rescue plan fail only to have a new one take its place, making it extremely realistic. Batanides and Ruskin have played various villains and even IMF guest heros across all seven of MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE's years. They are very good here--treating the humans as less than human, not really people. When Pepe drops the rag over Steve, it is humiliating and dehumanizing, making a full grown man helpless to cry out for a little boy to remove the rag. Barry's understanding of Pepe offers a brief social comparison. Steve and Mark's friendship seems to be growing--although this only makes sense in production order (this is the 16th episode made; the fifth aired).A pet theory of mine is that the writers may have seen how much they actually came across as hating each other in previous produced episodes. They may have begun to make them save each other more often (BRAINWASH, ON A CLEAR NIGHT YOU CAN SEE THE EARTH, TERROR GO ROUND) and express more care for each other. In ON A CLEAR NIGHT, mark would not obey Steve's orders that meant destroying Steve himself. Fitzhugh still wears his tie here. Val has her hair tied up in a bandanna and looks as lovely as she does with her hair down. She and Betty wear "new"clothes which have not been seen, air-order wise, in the first four episodes, evidence that TERROR GO ROUND, was aired out of order. The first to feature these less officious more relaxing type clothes (perhaps out of their old Spindrift luggage), production order wise, is GHOST TOWN and then BRAINWASH. The rest of the produced first season after BRAINWASH had these clothes. 85 percent of the music is new--except for a short piece from THE LOST ONES (as Steve, Mark, and Barry climb the rope down from the pipe organ) and the dog attack music from THE CRASH--actually music used in the space warp scenes in THE CRASH. The balloon ride is exciting and the episode gives each character some part to play in the action. The jungle sound effects--that 20th Century Fox staple of exotic birds is used for one of the last times during the daytime scenes. It was used in WEIRD WORLD, THE TRAP, THE BOUNTY HUNTER, THE LOST ONES, BRAINWASH, and TERROR GO ROUND. Night sounds included crickets and other insect sounds. While the night sounds would pretty much remain the same, the day time scenes would be using normal bird chirps, not tropical birds. The mixing of earlier produced episodes with later produced episodes made the jungle sounds seem schizophrenic, sounding like a park one episode and maybe like a jungle the next. Writer Charles Bennett worked for Alfred Hitchcock at one time. The stock footage of the carnival looks more like an amusement park with various rides like lifting Swings, roller coasters, Paratrooper Rides, and game booths. Stefan Arngrim was given a giant spark plug from this episode by the crew of LAND OF THE GIANTS as a gift. In the second season THE DEADLY DART, Mark was accused of killing giants, the first among them a "carnie operator who had once held them captive"---I believe this victim (not of Mark's but of the real killer SID Sergeant Barker) to be Carlos. TERROR GO ROUND promised and delivered a different type feel for this one adventure and it is highly enjoyable.

THE WEIRD WORLD

PRODUCTION TWO

AIRED-12-22-1968--ELEVENTH

WRITER-ELLIS ST. JOSEPH

IDEA: ANTHONY WILSON

DIR-HARRY HARRIS

TEASER

Mark, Fitzhugh, and Steve put out a fire started by a pipe smoking giant. In the jungle, Valerie, Betty, and Barry are brought to an Earth sized tape recorder by Chipper. Back at the outpost, Steve, Mark, and Fitzhugh are attacked by a giant crow.

ACT ONE

Mark is hurt in the attack but a giant boy, without realizing it, frightens it off by firing his toy laser rifle. The toy goes out, the result of dead battery, which the boy drops into the forest. Steve gets the discarded battery which can help recharge the ship's solar batteries. Dan calls--the girls and Barry have turned up with something really important. Fitzhugh notices a box of provisions and his knife missing. Steve tells them they can't bother with it now and asks Mark how bad his arm is. They take off and now it is the time we see the titles. En route back to Spindrift, an unseen presence stalks them. Steve won't leave one man alone in the jungle, even to find out what it is. They hook up the tape recorder to the battery back at the ship camp. On the tape, Major Kagan tells them a year has passed since the giants captured his ship and equipment. He also explains giants have poor night vision and that he and his men will try to recapture their rocketship. Betty wonders if they are from the National Air Research Team in the Space Orbiting Lab over Earth. Night continues: they all turn in; Fitzhugh falls asleep on guard. Barry wakes up, finds Chipper is gone and gets no support from a mostly asleep Fitzhugh, and moves off to find his dog. He is grabbed, his mouth covered by a wild man in rags of a uniform.

ACT TWO

Kagan has Barry and takes him to a gopher hole saying, "I've seen things that would drive a man insane."He questions Barry once inside the gopher hole where he has been living. Barry gives him a rundown on who those other people are. He tells the boy he can never go back to his friends believing them to be working as spies for the giants. Val alerts Captain Burton that Barry is missing and the man and Val stare at Fitzhugh accusingly. Steve rescues Barry from Kagan just as the boy escaped from the gopher hole when a giant gopher caused some shaking. Kagan is about to fire his bow and arrow at Barry but Steve stops him just in time. Steve brings the man back to camp where they all question him. Kagan refuses to answer questions; Mark tells him he will and threatens him; Betty tells "Mr. Wilson"that's not the way--they can only get through with kindness. Steve appeals to him by turning on the taped logs Kagan left as a warning to those who follow him into this world. Kagan tells them the giants have his ship at a Science Center, a complex of buildings used for various studies--the giants technology is 50 years behind Earth's in most areas but they shouldn't be underestimated, they're very clever. They will go to his rocket to find it and fly it back to Earth. When the others go inside the Spindrift, Val taunting Fitzhugh, "Packed already, Mr. Fitzhugh?"Fitz says, "Miss Scott!"Val goes inside. Fitzhugh, holding his valise, tricks Kagan into thinking they are lying.

ACT TWO

Fitz calls all the others Judas Goats who lead other goats to slaughter. They captured him, too, Fitzhugh says--the victim of another spaceship wreck. Kagan tells Fitzhugh the boy is so innocent and the captain sincere. Fitzhugh lies about the others, making Kagan take him toward the Science Center via his gopher hole. Mark hooks up a spot light to the giant battery for Dan to use. Steve and Mark pursue Kagan and Fitzhugh after the others come out and find them gone. Val quips, "Looks like our thief has stolen our astronaut."A gopher, digging another tunnel, drops dirt and rock on Kagan and Fitzhugh, trapping Kagan under rocks and dirt. Steve uses flares Kagan stole from the outpost to delay the gopher smashing through the hole it made--when it crashes through it will kill all of them. Mark and Fitzhugh help undig Kagan while Steve uses the bow to fire an arrow to kill the gopher (which screeches like a hawk). Fitz tells them they can't blame a wanted man for trying. Kagan tells Steve he can't go back because of something he vaguely remembers--the terror--which is so horrible he can't recall what it is--some kind of death trap that trapped his men. Steve insists they've been all through this and Kagan promised to take them. He promises to try. Steve discusses the plans with the others. Mark and Steve lead the girls across an open area street to get to a lamp post just in front of the Science Center. Kagan leads Dan, Barry, and Fitzhugh through the gopher tunnels to the wall of the building near a vent (this was the easy way in--why didn't they all go this way?). Mark and Steve open the lamp post wiring door to put the light out since a watchman is there---and may see them, but the giant man hears this noise and turns toward them!

ACT THREE

Getting the light off, the watchman is distracted long enough for the four to sneak inside--unseen: Steve tells them he can get the grappling hook to the door to open it. They run inside and open a locked vent for Dan and Fitzhugh on the inside. Barry and Major Kagan wait outside--Kagan to afraid to go into the vent. Steve, Dan, and Mark climb up a table where a giant scientist is sleeping on his desk. The find Kagan's ship--dismantled. While they look for what they can salvage, the giant starts to wake up. The trio climb down--Mark on the rope, Steve and Dan on the lamp cord...which moves the lamp, drawing the giant's attention. He looks under the table as they climb down. Once down, Steve pulls the lamp over the table and it falls, causing darkness. They hide in a corner as the giant goes and gets a watchman, telling him he heard something in that room. The two giants return and the Earthers scatter. Barry, hearing a noise, runs inside the drain and runs straight into spider web and is stuck. Steve and Betty are trapped in another corner but Steve uses the hatchet on the giant's hand. Fitz tries to get into the drain but sees the huge feet of the giants coming at him. Dan and Mark explode the magnesium in the light bulb, hooking it up to their battery, blinding the giants. Everyone gets out the vent. Kagan is paralyzed by fear as he hears Barry's screams for help from him: a giant spider--a tarantula is crawling down the web at him.

TAG

Kagan runs into the vent and pulls Barry off the web but falls into it himself. As Barry runs to the arriving others, they witness Kagan being killed by the creature, wide eyed. The next morning, Barry finishes Kagan's last log entry, "Major Kagan died last night. He was a very brave man. He saved my life. Thanks to him, we gathered valuable information which will help return to Earth."

REVIEW: Perhaps an even more action packed episode than THE CRASH and one which gives us a bit more about these stranded people from Spindrift. The giants were huge, frightening, very lumbering monstrosities with little involvement in the interactions. This made them extremely scary and more alien than they would later seem, especially combined with the wide angle special lenses. Angles also aimed upward from lower points of view of the Earthlings perspective (ie--looking at and seeing the giants) and downward from above points of view of the giants (ie--looking at and seeing the little people). The angles were kept throughout the show's two seasons but the lenses seem to go three fourths through the first year. This is a pity as they made the giants seem very...giant. Later in the series, the roles of the giants were wisely expanded with more lines and more personalities. This show had to this in order to survive. Val and Fitzhugh in THE WEIRD WORLD still call Steve, "Captain"instead of the later, less formal, "Steve."Fitzhugh is called, "Mr. Fitzhugh"almost all the time. He is sly, devious, and almost evil in his conning of Kagan--willing to abandon the others just because he says he is a wanted man. Whether he was or not is a question open for interpretation by fans and viewers. The fact that this was aired so late in the season (11th) makes this confusing to viewers--Fitzhugh was semi-good in some of the episodes that were aired before this one. The effect of his "conversion"to more of an ally in THE TRAP--is lessened by it coming 8th in the air order--before his "badness"in THE WEIRD WORLD. Just another reason for me to harp on the production order being the only real order to view the series. The special effects in THE WEIRD WORLD are fantastic. One problem with this one is that the gopher sounds very unlike a gopher (just as the cat sounded very unlike a cat in THE CRASH and more like a lion). It sounds like a hawk. I appreciate that the production team wanted to make it sound as if the animals were louder and more fierce than their Earth counterparts and were not the same in proportion and would sound very odd to our ears; however it doesn't work and doesn't look right; it being more scary hearing a cat be a cat even when it is towering over our spaceship. It would have been more appropriate if the cat and gopher sounded like an Earth cat and gopher (in that order!). This episode, production wise, was the first to feature another Earth person stuck on the LAND OF THE GIANTS. Other include THE GOLDEN CAGE (which oddly enough was chosen to air a week after this one--two Earth "guest stars"one right after the other. To add insult to injury, air order-wise, THE LOST ONES, another Earth visitor tale--visitors actually--was aired right after THE GOLDEN CAGE. This gave viewers three other shipwrecked survivors in a row, week after week for three weeks. This is highly unlikely and would have been better space out, story wise. Rating wise, it may have been smart to do it the way they did, air order wise but that remains to be proven. Other episodes would mention other ships and crash victims: GHOST TOWN, UNDERGROUND, THE TRAP, THE CREED, BRAINWASH, and ON A CLEAR NIGHT YOU CAN SEE THE EARTH. The original version of SABOTAGE had Bolgar claim he and Zarken accidentally killed another Earth man before this episode. Mark does not wear the tie or jacket for the rest of the episodes and Matheson was correct not to--this is survival not a fashion show. Ellis St Joseph wrote a two part BATMAN episode featuring Catwoman and Sandman, one of BATMAN's more serious efforts.